"Not too much, Paint," she cautioned, forcing him away, "you've got to take me through to Oro Fino today."
A few minutes later the others overtook her.
"What's got intuh yuh, gal?" Lee demanded. "Ain't we got trouble enough without you goin' goose wild?"
"Oh, I just wanted to let Paint stretch out," she evaded.
Three Finger was black with rage but said nothing. She knew from his looks that she would hear of this incident again. The remainder of the trip was made in silence under the smoldering flame of enmity.
The men hurriedly bought some supplies at the post in Oro Fino, including new saddles and blankets. Not daring to camp there, they continued their journey. With the addition of new saddles and ample supplies, the men were in better humor. They figured it would take them three days to Elk City. They crossed the Clearwater a mile below town and worked their way over the hump toward Nez Perce.
With the passing of Oro Fino, Dixie felt the loneliness more than ever. Try as she might, she could not efface the feeling that the future held for her only a black whirlpool of misery.
12
IT WAS MORNING WHEN BOB DOZED. HE dreamed he was trying to snatch Dixie from the ravaging flames. He was perspiring nervously when he awoke. There was no use trying to sleep. He got up and built up the fire. Then, not because he was hungry, but because he felt the need of nourishment, he fried some bacon in the pan they had left behind, boiled some coffee, and ate. He than began a hurried investigation.
He discovered that several horses had been standing in front of the cabin. He trailed them on foot for half a mile up the canyon. All at once he became a different man. Hope leaped to support him. Someone, maybe several, had escaped. He must find out whether or not one of them was Dixie.
In half an hour he was following the trail of the fugitives up the rough trail toward the summit over which he himself had come. All the morning he looked in vain for signs of a fresh campfire.
There were none. He even hoped that he might come suddenly upon them in some hidden glade. He feared nothing now. He was going to Dixie.
At noon he camped again for an hour to rest his horse, and then on up the main trail he traveled at swinging anxious speed.
It was almost night when he rode up to Ford's Saloon in Oro Fino. He arrived at the hour when the sleepy town began to wake up. During the day the miners were all out on their diggings. In the evening they gathered at the resorts to talk over their daily experiences, and to drink and dance.
A few curious stares greeted him from the men lounging on the porch when he dismounted and went in. Jack Darling greeted him from behind the bar in good old western fashion.
"Well, I'll be strung up if it ain't Bob Bainbridge! Thought you must be daid or something! Come up and wet the whistle. Shorty'll bust a hamstring when he sees you. He was about to ride out to find your carcass."
"Thanks, Jack," Bob answered, taking the proffered glass and filling it from the bottle. He felt the need of a stimulant. "How are you prospering?"
"Fine, since these windjammer sourdoughs got wind of the big strike in the Boise Basin. There's a gang makin' ready to fall in when the Walla Walla bunch trails in. Hey, Shorty!" he called lustily as that bow-legged gentleman came down the stairs. "It's the old reprobate hisself showed up!"
"Wal," cried Shorty, taking the steps two at a time. "Yuh ol' son o' a blister, yuh look like yuh'd seen a ghost! Yore kinda pale under the gills! How's yore laig? We heerd yuh was mussed up some down the shebang way."
Shorty kept up his incessant questioning until Bob cried roughly' "Shut up, leather breeches! I'm not going to try to answer your questions! I'm here and I'm still standing on both feet with my boots on."
"Come on back tuh the counter. I'll bet yore damn near starved!"
"Have you got a good man you can trust to take care of Star Face? I don't eat until I am sure he's tended to. I expect to be riding in a couple of hours."
"Yuh'll what?"
"You heard me, pard."
"Wal' in that case, Bob, I'll take care of Star Face myself. Yuh go right back there an' put yore hoofs under the counter. I'll soon be back."
Bob had not felt hungry, but he ate ravenously once he had started. A fresh venison steak just hit the spot. He sat facing the barroom, occasionally glancing at the girls. He recognized one of the girls they had brought in. She waved to him as she danced. Where was Daisy, he wondered. He hadn't asked Shorty about her.
He was just finishing his last cup of black coffee when Shorty returned.
"Here, Shorty, let's go somewhere where we can talk and I can lie down. I'm dog tired and there's a lot of things I want to ask you."
"Shore, podner. Come right upstairs. Why in thunder don't yuh make yoreself tuh home? Yuh still own a part o' this shebang!" he declared roughly.
Bob stretched out on the bed. Shorty sat down beside him.
"Seen any strangers in town today, Shorty?" Bob began.
Shorty scratched his head. "Wal, no, not me. But Jack said a bunch o' tough lookin' bozos rode in a little after noon. Funny thing, they was bareback, an' from the way they was ridin' he said they musta took all the peelin' offen their hinders. They come in an' bought a drink er two."
Bob looked up excitedly. "Was there a gal among them?"
"Say it careful, podner," Shorty began solemnly. "Yuh ain't meanin' that some gal has got yuh all bound up in her petticoat too, be yuh? Not another Strawberry Roan?"
"Cut the foolishness, Shorty, and answer my question," Bob demanded impatiently.
"My Gawd! Then it is true! Tell me it ain't true! If yuh knowed as much as I do about gals yuh'd shore repent!"
"Shorty!" Bob shouted savagely, "don't be a fool! There's no time to lose! Answer me!"
"Bob, would yuh be so kind as tuh tell me why yore so all-fired het up about this gal? Tell me that an' I'll refer the question tuh the head bartender."
"Shorty, I was shot down this side of the shebang. I tied myself to the horse. Then I went under. When I woke up this gal I'm askin' about had picked me up, hid me away, and nursed me back to life. Shorty, she's the most beautiful girl you ever saw. She's the daughter of John Lee, one of Plummer's Gang, but Dixie wasn't to blame. She's all white."
"Jest like Strawberry Roan, only she wasn't one o' the gang. Keep on."
"When I arrived in Lewiston, I was about all in. I told Beechy and Mrs. Ford how it all happened, and where. I didn't have enough nerve to tell them about Dixie. What a fool I was! Beechy got busy, unbeknown to me, and yesterday afternoon he sent a bunch of new members of the Vigilantes to the shebang to fix them for what happened to me. When I heard it two hours later I followed. Shorty, they destroyed the shebang and everyone in sight. I stayed all night in Rilda's Canyon, or Hidden Canyon as some of them call it. I picked up the trail there of the few who escaped. That's why I must know whether Dixie got away." He shook his head. "She'll think I'm a double crosser!"
"Cheer up' pard," Shorty encouraged. "I'll find out all about it, an' when I come back I'll know whether they's in town er not, er which way they went. Yuh got tuh git some snooze."
"Another thing, Shorty, how's Daisy?"
"You mean Strawberry Roan? Say, she's got the most even temper o' any filly I ever seed; she's sassy all the time. An' she kin boss better'n any Irishman I ever see. She's gettin' no better, but, doggone, I don't know how this here shebang could git along without her. Ain't yuh seen her yet?"
Bob shook his head.
"No? Well, yuh will."
"You're head and heels in love with her and you know it, Shorty."
"Wal, they ain't no little strawberry roan in the makin's yet. Yore perdiction is all haywire' pard."
"Time is the essence," Bob bantered.
"Aw, hell!" Shorty exploded as he beat a hasty retreat.
Bob knew he could trust Shorty to get the correct lay of the situation, and for the first time since he left Lewiston he relaxed, and in a few minutes he fell into a deep slumber. He had slept
possibly two hours when he was rudely awakened by Daisy, who had mistaken him for Shorty.
"Say, Shorty, you bow-legged, cripple-headed galoot! What do you mean sleeping here all night, with me downstairs like a slave taking care of business?"
Bob turned over, arose, and, rubbing his eyes, hooked wildly about before he could remember where he was.
Daisy, in surprise, put her long fingers to her open mouth. "Lordy, Mister Bob, I didn't know it was you! How be you, anyhow?" Then, to his utter amazement, she threw both arms about him and gave him a resounding smack. "I couldn't be half as glad to see Santa Claus as I am to see you!"
Bob blushed and straightened up. He hadn't expected such an effusive greeting from Daisy.
"I'm glad to see you, Daisy. I want to tell you how I appreciate the way you brought Shorty through. How is he, anyway?"
"Oh, Bob, he's a darling. But, honest, he's the hardest man I ever tried to manage. He'll never think as much of me as he does of you."
"Oh, folderol, gal! We're pards only. He loves you, gal, or I'm a Flathead Injun! Let anyone start something with you, and I'll bet my last hat that he'd finish it quick."
Shorty, all out of breath, burst in on their conversation.
"What is it, Shorty?" Bob demanded, swinging his feet to the floor.
"There's hell tuh pay! Burk's been killed!"
"What?" Bob's voice cracked like a whiplash.
Daisy gasped and her face turned ashen white.
"What happened? Quick, Shorty!" Bob demanded.
"He was herdin' Ford's mules fer yuh, an' this evenin' Jim went out tuh take his place an' he finds Burk shot an' daid as a mackerel! Six head o' mules is missin'!"
"What about the other?"
"They was a girl in the bunch. The livery man says she was the purtiest thing he ever saw. Three Finger Smith was in the gang too. The men bought saddles at the post an' supplies fer a trip. They left this afternoon. Don't know which way they went."
"That explains Burk's death. Shorty, we're riding again!"
"We can't do nothin' till morning, Bob. We don't even know which way the killers went er what happened. We couldn't track 'em tonight. I sent Jim with some o' the boys tuh bring Burk in. Comes mornin' we'll ride like hell!"
13
THREE FINGER SMITH AND HIS PARTY CAMPED at night in a coulee about ten miles from Oro Fino. Lee cut some boughs and made a bed for Dixie under a large fir tree. He made his own about ten feet away. Dixie ate supper and went to bed early. She was exhausted and nervous from the long ride and the harrowing experience of the last twenty-four hours. Now that Bob had betrayed them, she felt that she could trust no one.
"What better is he than the rest?" she asked herself. "He killed as recklessly as any of the gang!"
Until last night she had considered his action as necessary to the building of a great inland empire, but she did not believe that his duty went to extent of destroying anything as sacred as love. But perhaps he did not love her after all. No doubt the nice things he said were lies.
Through her tears she saw the shaggy men sitting about the small camp fire, smoking. Her heart reasoned that Bob could not be classed with these wild men. She remembered his soft words and his caresses. Oh, she wished she were dead! What hope was there left for her in that great, wild, almost untrodden West to which they were headed? As yet she was undefiled, but how long would she be able to say that? What chance had she against the avariciousness of these brute men? Only the thin protecting thread of her father stood in the way. And now he had become so enmeshed with the gang she feared he would be powerless when the test came. For come it would; of that she was certain.
She shuddered at thought of the way Three Finger had looked at her. She knew that only the fear of Plummer held him back. Her father would be no match for him.
She saw them leave the fire one by one to crawl into their blankets. Through the gleam of the dying embers she saw the hated form of Three Finger Smith crouched by the fire alone. Occasionally he would turn and stare in her direction. She could not see his eyes nor the expression on his face, but she knew what was written there. Softly she crept from her bed to where John lay snoring peacefully. Noiselessly extracting his bowie knife, she crept back to bed and waited. The slowly passing minutes seemed like hours.
Presently the man arose stealthily and disappeared in the brush. Her heart was pounding with fear but she did not move. An owl in the nearby tree hooted drearily. She gripped the handle of the sharp blade more firmly. The brush cracked almost at her shoulder. Through the darkness she saw a form silently crawling its way toward her on hands and knees. Still she waited...waited. He reached the edge of the bed and caught hold of the covers. A sharp gasp escaped his lips as he felt the point of steel pressed against his stomach.
"One more move, you devil, and I'll plunge this blade clear through you! And don't move a hand toward that gun! You've got just one chance!" she hissed dangerously. "Back to bed, or I'll slit you wide open!"
For a moment the man sat on his heels as though paralyzed. Then, with a curse, he slowly backed away as silently as he had come.
Dixie felt weak as a kitten. The tremor of her body shook the blankets. She wondered if she would be as lucky the next time. Noiselessly she arose and tugged her bed over beside her father and lay down to toss restlessly through the remainder of the night. With the breaking of the silver dawn she fell into a troubled sleep.
When she finally crept from her bed for breakfast, her head was heavy and her body ached from the loss of rest. Three Finger and some of the men were saddling the horses. For the first time she noticed that there was a string of pack mules in the band. John Lee, sitting beside her, hastened to explain.
"Plummer and Cleveland and some of the gang rode in this mawnin' and brought the mules. We're goin' tuh the Basin. Plummer said tuh get supplies at Elk City."
"Are we going to trail with them, John, with this bunch?"
He stopped his coffee cup half way between his plate and his mouth to observe her, as though the question were a surprise.
"Theah ain't no othah way now, gal. If it hadn't been foah that damn Pokerface Bob, theah might have been anothah!" The cup traveled to his mouth and he sucked the coffee through his teeth.
"Is the whole gang going with us? Is Three Finger?"
"What's Three Finger done, gal? I can tell theah's something happened."
"Nothing, John," she evaded, "only I don't like him and I don't trust him. Promise me you won't leave me alone with him."
John sat studying her for a moment, and as he did so his shoulders seemed to droop. "God!" he muttered softly. "Ah wish Ah could get yuh out of this! But if Ah tried Ah would be wiped out quick. Ah wouldn't care foah that, only it wouldn't save yuh."
"I know, John, dear. We'll have to go and trust to luck. And please don't ever mention Bob to me again. I hate him for what he has done!"
"That relieves me, Dixie, gal," the old man smiled. "Heah, take this little derringer, an' if anyone molests yuh, use it."
"Thanks, John," she said, putting it in her jacket pocket. "I only know of one person I may need to use it on."
They finished eating, and Dixie was clearing up the tin dishes, when Plummer and Cleveland rode in again. They dismounted and called the men together. There were five men and Dixie in the gang.
"Men," Plummer began, "here's my plan. You go on to Elk City and get ready to trail into the Basin as soon as the Grimes bunch comes along. I'm going to make a trip into Bannock and Virginia City to round up my men and head them for the Basin. We'll clean up things as we leave this country, for the pasture isn't green any more. Too much Vigilante business. I've known it was coming, and I think, considering, that we've done very well. I've only one regret; that some of the gang hasn't wiped out that Yankee, Pokerface Bob. Even that ain't so bad, for I heard he's in Lewiston living with the widow Ford, so I'm not much worried about him any more."
At mention of Bob, Dixie turned her head away. She felt nauseated. An
d she had secretly hoped that her surmises were wrong and that he would come for her and take her away from all this. Her last hope was shattered like a broken doll. There was nothing to care about now. She would ride through to the finish.
Plummer was still talking. "You're a selfish lot. You want all that country to yourselves to work and don't want me to bring all my men in. Well, let me tell you, that even in the Basin, robbery outside the law will not last long. Haven't you any heads on your shoulders? Back in Washington they're considering creating the Idaho Territory out of this, and it may pass this winter. Then the officers of the law will come, and it will spell doom to our professional business."
"Yeah? What then?" Three Finger grumbled.
"Then my men and friends will elect me sheriff. What will that mean to our gang? We'll be in tall grass. What will it do to Pokerface Bob and the Vigilantes if any of them have the crust to follow? It will put them beyond the law!" He laughed at his own joke. "We'll just change shoes with them. Now you'd better hit the trail. Me and Cleveland here will take two of the mules and hit for Oro Fino, and take the Lolo Trail after we've played a little."
That ended the council and the men began to pull up camp. Plummer came over to where Dixie and her father were standing.
"Lee, I've always treated you right, haven't I? And you want me to continue, don't you?"
"Sure, Plummer," the old man answered.
"Well, I'm going to continue so long as you watch yourself. I don't want my father-in-law to meet up with quick death--eh, gal? We'll set up housekeeping in the Basin like decent folks soon, won't we?" As he spoke he chucked her the chin.
"Don't put your hands on me, Plummer! I don't like it!" she protested.
"Leave the kid alone, Plummer," Cleveland interfered. "She don't like it, and neither do I!"
Plummer whirled about. "The hell you don't! I'll have you to know this is my play, and I don't take back talk from anyone!"
"You might use a little sense then. You're so rotten selfish in everything you do that I wonder you haven't got a slug of lead in your belly a long time ago."
The Bitterroot Trail Page 11
